Better Seats
There is something to be said for gods and immortals. Civilizations have destroyed other civilizations over their differences concerning them. Families have been murdered, nations overthrown, armies sent across oceans, cars stolen, bombs made over them. For never having shown their face in modern times they still have a huge influence over the decisions people make. Like every year since Manifest Destiny was thought up Oklahoma was ravaged by a massive quarter-mile in diameter tornado. An entire town of unfortunates leveled by awesome wind and debris. A flustered news correspondent for a national syndication climbs over a pile of concrete, followed by a sweating cameraman wearing plaid and a beard. They reach a plateau of debris, loosely covering the foundation of a two-story five-bedroom house. The only thing standing is a weather vain neatly tucked in a pile of collapsed wood. At the crest of personal disaster, a family of hard-working American icons stand: an unshaven father, holding the gentle hand of his eight-year old daughter, still clad in a nightgown and clutching a stuffed duckling. To the father’s right stands a mother, face worn with tears and fright. She grips her husband’s arm like she was trying to keep from falling. In front of the cascade of horror is a boy, maybe ten, wearing his father’s flannel shirt over torn and bloody pajamas. The correspondent gently approaches the abominable family and tries to delicately point her microphone at their silent sobs. “We are thankful that God saved our lives,” says the boy with a genuine smile. It brings up a question: how can people who have eliminated all discoveries with science and technology be so influenced over forces that no one has seen in thousands of years? Gods and immortals have a magnificent control over humans. We now have to ask, who are these gods and immortals? God, Yaweh, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Shiva? Zeus, Ra, Baal, Chichen Itza? Sure, history tells us who they are, but who are they really? We should know. After all, most of us make all decisions based on them and many of us live in fear of them. We thank them for saving us from disasters they created, we blame them for atrocities, we print praises to them on our currency, we thank them before we eat, we kill for them, we are controlled by them through our own will. Who are they? Maybe they are concepts. Not figments of our imagination, as such, but rather ideas that societies as a whole generate to give political and spiritual guidance. This would be an easy concept to swallow, however, nothing is quite that simple. For one, societies don’t think, they behave. Secondly, the truth is never this complicated. They are people who have a better seat than the rest of us. We should not develop religions worshipping their position. Instead, we should get out of our seats and go to where they are. The view is better there. --Laveaux 22:20, 29 May 2007 (UTC) Category:Articles